The Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology

Edited by Russell Re Manning
With John Hedley Brooke and With Fraser Watts

Description

The Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology is the first collection to consider the full breadth of natural theology from both historical and contemporary perspectives and to bring together leading scholars to offer accessible high-level accounts of the major themes. The volume embodies and develops the recent revival of interest in natural theology as a topic of serious critical engagement. Frequently misunderstood or polemicized, natural theology is an under-studied yet persistent and pervasive presence throughout the history of thought about ultimate reality - from the classical Greek theology of the philosophers to twenty-first century debates in science and religion.

Of interest to students and scholars from a wide range of disciplines, this
authoritative handbook draws on the very best of contemporary scholarship to present a critical overview of the subject area. Thirty eight new essays trace the transformations of natural theology in different historical and religious contexts, the place of natural theology in different philosophical traditions and diverse scientific disciplines, and the various cultural and aesthetic approaches to natural theology to reveal a rich seam of multi-faceted theological reflection rooted in human nature and the environments within which we find ourselves.

Edited by Russell Re Manning
With John Hedley Brooke and With Fraser Watts

Reviews and Awards

"[A] fine collection... the editor of this varied and interesting collection is to be commended for his careful tightrope walk through the plethora of rival works. The Oxford Handbook of Natural Theology wisely eschews trespassing on the terrain of its predecessors in favour of original and distinctive meta-disciplinary perspectives on natural theology itself... this book combines diversity of approach with brevity and flashes of genuine depth." --The Expository Times